Persona Q2 - New Cinema Labyrinth: Late stages

33 hours in, fourth labyrinth. I'm just done slaughtering the most obnoxious boss EVER, namely the despicable Mother Computer. Not only was the fight properly interminable, but the game had the nerve to force me to use some very specific elemental attacks lest the whole thing became totally unwinnable. How dare you, Atlus! This is nothing but a big fat case of fake difficulty, and it royally pisses me off — even though I did have the necessary skills to progress. Still, I swear I would totally have ragequit — and ditched PQ2 entirely for good measure — if not for the Safety setting, which allowed my whole party to rise from the ashes after biting the dust and continue the fight as though nothing had happened. Seriously, PQ2's difficulty is sometimes so extreme it's not even funny. I can only hope that this is the Etrian Odyssey side speaking and not the Persona one, because I really don't want to struggle that much when I finally decide to tackle the series.

Awesome characters talking about awesome subjects = Match made in heaven.

Anyway, I still love PQ2 just as much as ten days ago. I could do with slightly less cutscenes and characters, granted; however, I have to admit that the whole Persona lore and the crew from older entries are growing on me, and my desire to play said older entries is getting stronger by the cutscene. As for my original crew, well... I have to find a way to experience Persona 5 even if it's the last thing I do! Anime, manga, future port, borrowing somebody's PS3 — anything, as long as I get to see them evolve in their original setting. I don't know why, but I just love them to pieces! It's been a long time since a video game cast delighted me that much: not only do I dig their looks to death, but their personalities and demeanour really resonate with me. Were I twenty years younger, I would have drawn comics and fanarts featuring them — heck, I'm an mere inch from doing that anyway. I kid you not: my current wallpaper is a Persona 5 art — that's how hooked on that whole Persona 5 thing I am right now.

And talking about, well, Persona, I'm refining my mastery of all things Personas. I now have a clear view of what I want to achieve when it comes to Sub-Personas: since my crew's main Personas naturally wield and learn Curse, Electric, Bless, Fire and Ice abilities, I'll focus on developing Wind, Almighty, Psy, Nuke and Physical abilities for my Sub-Personas. As a matter of fact, I've already done so, but in a completely slightly haphazard and disorganized manner, which resulted in many of my Personas wielding the exact same skills. I want to streamline and simplify that whole business, and have each secondary Persona specialize in a given ability; then I can cherry-pick my favourite Healing and Buffing skills, and add them to the mix for good measure. I'm not too sure I can achieve that goal before the end of my run, because a) I'm starting so very late and b) I still have a lot to learn regarding Persona growth and fusion; but even if I don't, that will most certainly be the blueprint for my future Persona playthroughs.

I'd like the fourth labyrinth to be the last, but let's face it: there will probably be a fifth labyrinth acting as the final dungeon. And as much as I love PQ2, I'm actually not quite sure I'll have the energy to finish it in one smooth go: as far as my play meter is concerned, that game should end around the 40-45 hour-mark, lest we tread on 'Too much of a good thing' territory. Maybe I should wisely take a small break from PQ2, or play another game in parallel as a breather? Oh well, we'll see. Back to da grind for now!